


Neighbors

by Vilett



Category: Fairy Tail
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, F/M, Fluff, Lucy Heartfilia's Apartment, out of character natsu dragneel
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-09-09
Updated: 2018-09-09
Packaged: 2019-07-10 08:51:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 8
Words: 11,773
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15945941
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Vilett/pseuds/Vilett
Summary: Go to school. Go to work. Study. Sleep. Repeat. This was practically her life ever since she decided to become independent. At the young age of seventeen, the vivacious, honey-haired girl moved out of her father's care for more freedom. She was once rich, wealthy, successful. She was once pampered like a spoiled child. She was once treated like a grand princess. It sounds like such a nice life. Yet, she was overwhelmed, she was unhappy, and stressed. Frankly, she just didn't enjoy life. She moved out thinking that freedom would be everything. That once she left that controlling environment, she could do anything. She wouldn't be a puppet on some burly, binding strings. Once she had freedom, she could be who she wanted, do what she wanted, live how she wanted. With this in mind, Lucy Heartfilia left. She left that estate and moved into a fairly good sized apartment, with decent rent, and somewhat close to her school, Fairy Tail High.





	1. Dragneel

**Author's Note:**

> Guys I wrote this like three years ago so I apologize for the mediocre writing. I swear - well I hope - it'll be better after I post all the chapters previous-me wrote, so I can start writing as future-me.

Tangled tufts of blonde and a pool of slobbery drool connecting her mouth to some papers. A heavy, hardcover AP chemistry textbook under her right elbow and a, previously neat, stack of papers paints her desk and floor. _Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. 6:30,_ shown on a black box, emitting a luminescent green in the darkly-lit room. The sun was barely protruding from behind those steely mountains.

Lucy had darted around back and forth in her apartment, shoving some papers in her book bag. Currently, she was hopping around trying to get a sock on while brushing her teeth and miserably failing. Struggling to pick her tired self up from the messy wooden floor, Lucy notices a bluish splotch on the front of her wrinkled uniform. The weary-eyed teen groans at the sight and yanks off her uniform to throw on a spare. _Two uniforms, one as a spare! Thanks Virgo!_ She smiles, thinking of her old maid, as well as her advice. After rinsing out her mouth the hectic girl slips her shoes on, grabs her bag, and scurries out the door.

***

Running through the hallways, the blonde hurriedly stuffs the piece of toast in her mouth. The place was empty because the bell had already rung. Scoping down at her watch, Lucy moans, noting that she was in fact three minutes late. She had never been late to school. Ever. The girl had perfect attendance, straight a's, everyone knows she'll be one of the valedictorians this year, _and_ she's the Vice President of Student Council (the red-headed demon is president). So why was she late? After work, last night, her manager, Cana, though it'd be fun to have a little party. I mean Thursday is close enough to Friday, it's not like a few drinks will make a difference, right? Nope. Obviously the effect was out of hand because she couldn't study and instantaneously crashed when her head hit the desk last night.

For the second time that early morning, the poor girl fell. Luckily, this time, it wasn't on some cold, hard floor. In fact, she landed on something soft, warm, and noisy. _Really_ noisy. She rolls her eyes at the sight before her. A sprawled out, pink haired pyro idiot rubbing his head, lying under her body.

"--ll off," she caught, missing everything before the last word. Her eyes narrow towards the male's lips. "You want me to repeat it?" He asks, "'Get the hell off.'" She scrambles to straighten herself out. She adjusts her tie, pats down her skirt, and picks up her bag before saying a quick, 'douchebag,' and scurrying off to class. The male scoffs at her sly comment and trails behind her.

***

"Heartfilia? Heartfilia? That's odd. Okay, no Heartfil--"

"Here!" Lucy barges into the classroom, panting, but quickly composes herself.

"Hm? Miss Lucy, you're never late!" Mr.  Capricorn states rather puzzled.

"Sorry sir, my manager, erm, made me stay out late last night, so I overslept," I mean, it wasn't a lie...

"Well, I guess I won't mark you tardy because this is a first for you. And, mistakes happen," he smiles towards the girl. "Now please take your seat."

Upon the news, the studious girl takes her seat, grinning from ear to ear that her records would stay as perfect attendance. "Yes sir, thank you Mr. Capricorn," she heads to the very back, second to last window seat. 

"Okay class turn your textbooks to page 172, we're doing written work today," groaning is echoed throughout the classroom, "yeah, yeah, get over it," he adds as paper is being turned back and forth by all students. After it silences, Mr. Capricorn speaks up again, "oh yeah, we also have a new student today, so be nice." Everyone's face jerks up at the news, they never got new students. Who was it? The classroom door slides open and a male is revealed to the class. He attracts all of their attention, eyes super glued to the new boy. "Class, this is Natsu Dragneel, he used to be homeschooled but decided to go to a public high school," teach explains.

In all this chaos, Lucy stares at the boy, more like glares, well actually she was full on sneering at the boy. _That douche is the new student? Why is he in my class? I have the worst luck._ The boy speaks up, "hey everyone, I'm Natsu Dragneel, it's nice to meet you all, please take care of me, I will try my best," he bows, innocent. _What the hell is this? Was he always like this? No way. He was definitely rude before. Why is he acting like an angel? Maybe I just misunderstood him._

"Okay Mister Dragneel, please take that open seat in the back by Miss Lucy," Capricorn points to the right of the flustered, flaxen-haired girl. He walks to the back and all eyes are still laser focus on him. Before taking his seat, he locks eyes with Lucy and she swears that he smirked at her. The rest of the class, her face was marked with an annoyed, sour fake-grin.

***

_The new kid is cute. Yeah, he seems nice too. I really like him. His hair is a little strange, in the best way possible. I'm jealous, Heartfilia gets to sit next to him. Do you think they'll hook up? Nah, vice-pres can be really scary sometimes._

"Levy, whispers about _that guy_ are the only things I've heard. All. Fucking. Day." A clear irk in her tone.

"Lu, you know people, they're easily intrigued by new things. It'll die down in a few days, don't even worry about it," the sweet, petite bluenette reassures her best friend.

"Thanks, Lev.”


	2. Informer

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry if you guys aren't feeling the out of character Natsu.

It's been three weeks. _Three weeks._ An entire fourteen days and Natsu Dragneel is still the only thing people talk about. It wouldn't be that bad except for the fact that Lucy is caught in between everything. Furthermore, he treats her differently. He'll be nice one minute and the next, when everyone is busy, he'll be tugging on her hair. She always gets asked by everyone about him, just because they sit by each other. Usually, she'd put up with it and just go along with the flow. 

But not today, they were three weeks into Natsu's arrival and on top of her stressful situation, she's been having home problems. No, not with her dad. With her neighbor. A new neighbor has moved into her apartment complex this last weekend and all they've done is made noise. They haven't even stopped by to say hi, nor have they swung by just to apologize for the ruckus going on in that room. It's like the mystery person living there is doing construction twenty-four seven. She hasn't slept for three days now.

In class, Mr. Capricorn is teaching calculus for college prep. "Class, we'll be learning unit 2 chapter 8 today," he announces. Obediently, everyone flips to the correct page. Looking at the material, Lucy thanked Mavis, gratefully. Realizing that she had already learned this, she flashes a toothy grin and shuts the book. She could fall asleep in class and _still_ ace the quiz. Last year, Aquarius, her tutor back at the Heartfilia estate, brushed up on calculus. She never thought she needed to learn it back then because of how young she was; but how she thanked Aquarius in her head. Silently cheering for herself, the blonde lies the book on it's pages, to stand on the desk. She smiles, contently, as she places a soft cheek onto the wooden table. Sleep.

***

 _Ow. Ow. Ow. Ow._ She snaps her head up in frustration. What. The. Fuck. It's only been five minutes. Five minutes of pure bliss and now something is interrupting the beautiful peacefulness that once was. All that was audible to the sleeping girl was the rustic voice of calculus math equations spewing from her teacher's mouth. And now. And now she was fucking pissed. Someone keeps pulling her hair and she can't fall back asleep. There could only be two culprits in this manner. One. Sweet, sweet Mirajane whom everyone loved and adored, who sat in the seat in front of her. Or the devil with the smug smile who sits to her right. She had a feeling it was the pinkette. 

Lucy shrugs it off and tries to fall back to sleep, back into contentment. Back into REM. Two seconds after the fact, her hair becomes tugged onto again. 

"Lucy?" Mr. Capricorn calls out. 

Startled by the her name suddenly being called, she jerks toward the sources, "yes?" A silky voice oculatus, not even susceptible of whether she was sleeping or not before.

"Do you mind sharing a textbook with Mister Dragneel? I forgot to tell him to purchase one for this week," he questions, politely. Share. It took a few seconds to comprehend the word mainly because it meant that she'd have to give up her shield for sleeping. 

Grunting in her head, she replies, mannerly, "Of course, Mr. Capricorn."  

"Great, just, um, put your desks together or something, m'kay?" He spins back around on the back of his heel, "Alrighty class back to business," he announces, chalking up more equations on the board. Natsu stands up and carefully pushes his desk closer to Lucy's, a couple glances were shot back towards the two. 

"Listen, do you mind if we stand the book up? I haven't slept much last night and I already know how to do this so..." She trails off for him to complete the missing pieces.

"Yes," one word and a smirk is shown across his features. 

"'Yes', what?" She asks, puzzled, furrowed brows. 

"Yes, I _do_ mind putting it up," his smirk deepens and anyone could tell that this boy was _trying_ to get under our esteemed blonde's skin. 

With a roll of her eyes and a deep inhale, Lucy offers a false grin, "that's okay," she musters up to say, following along in the lesson.

***

Lunch time rolls along and she is beat. This girl is utterly defeated. She had to put up with almost an entire lesson of calculus, sleep deprived, and sitting next to a complete imbecile. She stands up and grabs her bag,  leaving the Natsu-obsessed room. Levy was eating with her boyfriend, Gajeel, today, as well was Erza and her soon-to-be-boyfriend Jellal. Gray has become really 'close' with Natsu and she could only imagine them fighting, playfully with Juvia supporting her beloved. 

Sleep deprivation is probably one of the most dreadful, hellish things in the world. So the drowsy girl skipped lunch with a _fuck it_ and headed up to the restricted roof. Sighing in the serene environment, she tosses her bag on the floor and falls on top of it. She strips off her cardigan and folds it up to use as a makeshift pillow. A grin forms for herself, about to sleep until... _Cough. Cough._ Instantly, Lucy bolts upright, located only a few feet away from her was an ebony-haired male with steely, onyx eyes. 

"Oh, I'm sorry," she apologizes, surprised, "I'm _really_ tired, I didn't know someone else was up here. I can go if you don't wanna be bothered. I mean, you _were_ here first. I'm probably being a nuisance right now. Sorry I'm so bothersome," she rants, standing up. 

"You can stay," he acknowledges, though a bit gloomily.

"Oh, really, um, thanks," she beams back, falling back on her cardigan. She tries to fall back to sleep, but can't. Something is actually bothering her _._ Maybe she's uncomfortable with sleeping next to a complete stranger? Well, that's _one_ reason. The second is... That's right, she's never seen this person before. Lucy knew everyone in Fairy Tail High, teachers and students all the like, even when they didn't know her; she was on yearbook committee. But she has _never_ seen this person before. "Um, excuse me, sorry if I'm making you anxious," she states flustered, "but, may I ask why you're here? I've never seen you before." He looks towards the auricomus-haired girl, facing away from the edge of the roof. 

"You caught me," the slightest smile is formed across the male's lips, she probably wouldn't have noticed if she wasn't staring so intensely at the boy. "I don't go here, but I had to check on my little brother. I'm sorry Miss, I didn't think anyone would come on the roof."

"Oh, my name's Lucy," she comments, "but, if you didn't wanna get caught, why'd you let me stay?"

"You didn't look like you'd tell anyone if you did suspect anything; moreover, you look exhausted," he responds, honestly. 

"Sorry about this, but one more question, what's your name?"

"I better go before he finds me. I might see you when I pick him up after school though." He treads over to the exit and opens the door about to leave, right before taking his first step to leave, he turns back to the questioning girl, "Zeref Dragneel," the door shuts behind him as footsteps dissipate from Lucy's hearing range.

"Zeref Dragneel?" She mutters to herself, falling back on her make-shift. " _That's_ Natsu's older brother?! He's _wayy_ nicer though," she pouts. Whatever, her arm falls across her face to block out the vision of light.

***

 _Ding dong. Ding dong. Ding dong._ She wakes up like a cat, yawning and stretching from her little escapade of a nap. She smack her lips together, smiling, as she sleepily gazes at her watch. _That was a good nap, lunch seemed longer than normal though. 2:15. Oh my Mavis..._ The recently ringing bell was in fact, the _last_ bell of the day, _not_ the end of lunch bell. With a loud, obvious sigh, the blonde heads back to the classroom to fetch her things. Damn, everyone is already gone, too. She wonders what everyone thought. I mean, Vice President suddenly disappearing half of the day through. Where'd she go? One more sigh emits from the lips of the saddened girl. She scurries towards the front of the school, realizing that work is starting soon.

She scrambles to the front of the school, and halts in place after noticing the mysterious man from earlier today. 

"Zeref!" She calls out waving. He turns around and waves back using the slight smile from before.

"Nice to see you again, Lucy," he speaks in an allocation manner. 

"What're you still doing here? I just swung by the classroom, no one's there," she furrows her brows.

"Actually, I was waiting for you, do you mind if I walk you home today?" He questions. 

Lucy's eyes widen at the sudden proposal that was just made. Nervously she chuckles, "actually, I'm on my way to work." 

"Where do you work?" He tilts his head, like a stray puppy.

"The Fiore bar and diner," she scratches the back of her neck, fidgety.

"Oh, that's just a few blocks from here, perfect," he thinks making a fist and pounding his other palm, as if a great idea sprang into mind. "Shall we be off then?"

In all honesty, she was going to refuse. Hell, she _wanted_ to refuse. But instead, "yeah, sure." Her kind gut kicked her ass before she could say no.

***

"So..." The two walk awkwardly together throughout the streets. The only audible noises come from their environment. Footsteps, chattering people, speeding cars, beeps and buzzes from inside stores, the usual bustling city on a Friday afternoon. 

"I'm guessing you skipped the rest of your classes after that rendezvous you had with yourself on the roof," he comments.

"Yeah, how'd you guess," she giggles.

"Well, like I said before, you looked exhausted and sleep was the only way to conquer it," he points out. 

"True," a one-worded response is heard from the odd, apprehensive girl next to him. "Hey, uh, I'll just go for it but uh, why'd you wanna walk with me?" 

"Oh yeah," he repeats the fist-to-palm-thing, remembering something. "I want to talk to you about my little brother." 

_Of course you do. Everyone does._ "Yeah, sure, I understand, what's up?" She questions.

"To be completely honest, I wasn't picking him up today. Moreover, I wanted to check up on him; but he's avoiding me," he murmurs.

"Excuse me?" A crease forms between the girl's brows. 

"Yeah, a couple months ago, he left me all alone, talking about _wanting to discover high school_ and _at least for senior year,"_ he quotes.

"Hold on, Natsu has never been to high school until now?" But he's so likeable, I mean, to _other_ people. 

"Yeah, you see, he's been homeschooled his whole life and I guess he suddenly became interested after accidentally going through an article about Fairy Tail High," Zeref explains, "and because of his lack in experience, I refused his request. He was plotting of ways to get around me or persuade me; all of which I declined. Little did I know, he was slowly packing things up and processing the paperwork for school. Then, on a random, three weeks later, he comes downstairs in uniform, announced he was going to school, and just waltzed out of the house. When he came back home, we talked and I was still reluctant to let him go. Natsu being Natsu, he decided to solve his problem, the only way was to be rid of me. So this past weekend, he got settled into a new place away from me," he sighs, exasperated.

"Wow," Lucy stops walking, in front of her working place, "it seems like we're on the same boat," she mutters the last part to herself.

"I'm sorry, what?" Zeref leans forward to hear her more clearly.

"Nothing, just, um, do you need me to do anything?" She smiles, obligingly.

"Yes actually, can you do me a huge favor," the protector asks. 

"Depends on the favor," she narrows her eyes onto him. 

"Can you inform me about Natsu and what he's up to?" He pleads. 

"Wait what?!"

"I'll give you my number, just update me on his daily activities, please," he whines, pouting, attracting many stares of strangers. 

"Okay, okay, just stop," she hides her face behind her hands, avoiding the intrigued faces surrounding them. After a minute or two, they dispatch and the discuss further. "Why don't you just ask him things yourself?" 

"Oh, I left out part of the story, okay, Natsu and I made a deal. I told him he had two months to prove school and being independent was good for him. I've been spying on him for three weeks and everything is fine; and I trust him and I _want_ to tell him; but I don't want to get in his way of trying so hard to impress me," the Raven-haired man rants. 

"Okay, I'll do it," hesitatingly, the blonde agrees. She waves bye to the deal maker and strides towards the building. Turning around once more, she asks, "why'd you pick me?"  
  
"Easy," he begins, "because you remind me of someone I love," he smiles, sweet and tender, and one could actually see it this time. One thing is a bit off though, he isn't smiling _to_ anyone. More like he's smiling _for_ someone. That little grin was for someone in particular, he was completely zoned out from reality for a second. _I wonder who it's for?_ Lucy, appreciating his small reaction, it made her happy that she made someone's day just by reminding them of someone.


	3. Next Door

_Saturday morning. 5:30 am. Who the fuck gets up at 5 fucking 30 on a Saturday?!_ Angrily, Lucy rolls out of her cozy white comforter. Only in black lingerie and an over-sized 'I Only Date Bad boys' shirt, the irate, grumpy blonde marches over to the source of all her stress at home.

 _Bang. Bang. Bang._ The problematic neighbor's door swings open. Upon seeing their face, Lucy would have politely told them to stop making so much noise. In this particular situation though, blondie flipped. A hand grasping the white scarf draped around the boy's face and wrenching it towards her, she slowly whispers, "knock off the fucking clamoring. It's fulminating, Dragneel," she spits each word at him like venom. Innocent eyes become egotistical. This pompous brat was pleased with the girl's reaction. He grabs her wrist and pulls her into the apartment, closing and locking the door behind her. "The hell, are you doing?" She leers.

"Look Lucy, I'm well aware you're displeased with my presence, however--"

"Correction, I hate you," she rolls her eyes. 

"However," he picks back up, "we don't wanna disturb our neighbors."

"What? You're worried about waking up our neighbor's when you're already making such loud ass noises? That's pretty inconsiderate because I for one, am already awake," she crosses her arms over her busty chest, sassily.

"Okay, okay, I'm sorry, can you forgive me?" He tilts his head like a begging puppy, similar to what Zeref did. She guesses they _are_ related.

"Alright, but just please be softer. I'm already surprised that _you're_ my neighbor, I mean, you're everywhere I go nowadays," she mumbles. 

"Just kidding," he winks. This left a speechless face on the blonde's features. There was no longer a resemblance between the two Dragneel brothers. 

"You've gotta be kidding me," she stares, dumbfound.

"Look Heartfilia, I don't know why, but you annoy me. As soon as you fell atop me a few weeks ago, I knew you piqued my interest. Then, I realized that it was in the ‘toy’ kind of way. In other words, I like playing with you," he grins. 

"Go fuck yourself, Dragneel," she turns aware, about to leave. 

"I couldn't help but notice that we're rocking the couple shirts," he simpers. Slowly turning around, Lucy notices that he in fact is wearing the 'Super Bad Boy' t-shirt pair for hers, wrinkled at the top, where she yanked previous to their hateful conversation. A scoff escapes her mouth as she struts out of the room. "Nice panties," he adds before the door is heard, closing behind her. A light rouge tints her cheeks, unwillingly.

***

Retrospectively, Natsu did stop making so much incoherent noises. I guess he felt bad for the possible disturbances he had on other people; but not Lucy. In fact, it's noon and she had just awoken to the sound of knocking at her door. She was able to catch up to her lack of sleep so she wasn't too grumpy. Spoke too soon.

"Wow, you're still sleeping?" The salmon-head chuckles lightly.

"Look, I haven't slept for a while because of you, both in school and home. So back off will ya?" She smiles, turning into a yawn. 

"Hey, Weirdo, let's go eat lunch together," he flashes a pearly grin, it actually seemed genuine.

"And why would I do that?" She raises a brow. 

"Look Luce--"

"Luce?" Her curiosity for his name-choosing deepens. 

"Yeah, that's my nickname for you," he beams once more, "anyway, look, I really do feel bad for terrorizing you; you're just so interesting. So can we like, start over?" 

Her eyes narrow onto the boy, confirming the candidness in his voice, "I don't know, will you be a dick this time?"

"No, but you can't blame me if I get the urge to tease you," he snickers.

***

"Natsu, where are you taking me?" The blindfolded blonde asks, cautious of everything around her. 

"Late lunch or early dinner, we've been over this," he ushers her throughout a large building.

"Then why do I have to be blindfolded?" She stumbles as Natsu holds the small back of her back as well as her forearm.

"It's a surprise," he whispers across her ear, a tad bit seductively. Her body twitches under his breath.

***

 _I knew it was progressing too fast._ Post blindfold, Lucy deadpans over at the cackling inane idiot next to her.

"I'm leaving," steps further her distance between the two until she's being carried into a seat. "I can't _believe_ you," she sneers, complying to sit down. A restaurant. A fucking restaurant where on of their most famous dishes includes fried crickets. Sure, to some people, it sounded mouth-watering delicious but to a certain blonde with a fear of any bugs, it was horrifyingly deplorable. "How did you even know my biggest fear?" She asks, eyeing the dishes of the people around her. 

Natsu still snorting like it's the funniest thing in the world replies with, "Levy told me." 

"Hold on, you're talking to _my_ friends now? About _my_ fears?"

"Actually, we were all talking in a group at lunch and she happened to be there because of Gajeel. We went around the table staying out fears and she said quote, 'I share a fear with my best friend Lucy, bugs,' unquote." 

"Damnit Levy," _I can't even get mad at you like a normal person now,_ Lucy whines to herself. 

"What'll you guys be having for today?" A waitress strides over. 

"Two of your specialty," Natsu declares handing her back the menu. 

"Coming right up," she smiles.

"Excuse me, is there anyway I could get mine, you know, bug free," she ask, hopefully. 

Unknowingly, Natsu was swiping his fingers back and forth across his neck signaling not to change her order. The waitress caught sight and noted not to listen to the blonde, many people like doing this for reactions on the food, so the waitress caught his drift. As the blonde turned to the flame-brain only to catch him playing off his movements as if he was scratching his throat. 

"Of course, Miss," the waitress grins, keeping a straight face, Natsu was thankful for that.

***

The food arrived and it was none other than spaghetti and meatballs. The twist? There were fried crickets in the meatballs, not that Lucy would know. 

"Shall we dig in?" Natsu beams, anticipating her moment of realization. 

"Yeah, whatever," she replies, disgusted by the fact that the dish she was about to consume was made in the same kitchen that bugs were in. Stabbing her meatball, she tangles it with some spaghetti and raises it in front of her mouth, stopping midway. 

"What? What's wrong?" Natsu asks, cautious and jittery, he _really_ wants her to eat it.

"Aren't you going to eat with me?" She nods to his untouched plate. 

"Hm? Yeah totally," ash-breath twirls his fork around and slurps up his noodle, then he jabs his fork into a meatball and swallows. _The cricket doesn't even taste bad, in fact, it tastes like chicken. Agh. I can't wait for Luce to eat it though._ She resumes where she left off and bites through the noodles of the fork. Natsu rolls his eyes as she swallows the mini mouthful. She goes in for the bite of the meatball, it's hovering over her tongue. All she has to do is close her mouth and chew. Natsu smiles from ear to ear, tapping his foot, and gradually nudging forward in his seat.

Lucy quickly jerks the fork out of her mouth, "just kidding," she winks at the boy, reciprocating his actions from earlier that morning. "Thanks for the meal Natsu, it was quite a delectable delight; but, I should really get on my way, I have some studying to do," she stands up, folds her napkin, and places it carefully next to her barely touched plate. Waving to Natsu and thanking the servers, she sees herself out of the restaurant.

She knew the whole time. The sad truth of the matter is that Natsu really could've gotten away with it. The waitress' facade was flawless but Natsu was just too much of an idiot. She noticed his reaction when the food came, how he didn't touch his until she pointed it out, how he was so enveloped in the moment as the fork wrenched closer and closer to her mouth, and, the obvious one, the crunch that was made as he chewed his meatball.

Lucy Heartfilia may be blonde; but she is not dumb.

***

Okay, maybe she's a little dumb. After her little abrupt exit in the restaurant, it didn't take the girl too long to notice, maybe after walking a few meters, that she had _no idea_ where she was. She had forgotten the events leading up to the cricket meatballs, before 'lunch.' The events consisting of Natsu leading her here, _blindfolded._

"Shit," was the only word she could think of. She's never been on this side of town, and right now, she was facing the reasons of why she hasn't. Cat-calling men whispering at girls. Gang groups formed their little pharm parties. Homeless druggies and drunks lying unconsciously around the corners.

"Hey blondie, lemme get your number," one of the womanizing hooligans shout across the street. Making her way towards the girl he slaps her ass. Lucy turns around and punches him before he could react. "Bitch is feisty huh?" He goes to slap her and Lucy ducks. 

"Why don't you go back to your little group," she glares at the man. 

"I'll go if you come with me," he leans forward. Being brought up in such an established family, the blonde was exceedingly prudent. In other words, she scoffed, kicked his balls, took off her heels, much to the man's confusion, and ran, she ran like he was some kind of serial killer. To be fair, it's possible that he was a serial killer. 

Panting and panting like a dog after fetch, Lucy was balancing herself against the side of a building. She's probably wandering around this area for hours. Now, it was six, the sun was setting and she furthered herself into this terrifying territory. On the outside, she looked like a resilient war hero or something, but on the inside, she was screaming in terror like this was a horror movie and she was living in it.

***

The cat-calls got even worse now that day became night. There was no trace of sunlight and it became chillier. In all honesty though, it was like any other night. Lucy was just overthinking things because of how scared she was.

"Ugh. Stupid Natsu, taking me to a bug restaurant," she whispers to herself. The girl was undeniably smart, she was smart not to approach anyone in that menacing environment; but she was also dumb for confusing to walk somewhere she had no idea of being. Like honestly, if the places were continually getting more and more malevolent, she could have gone the other way. If only she could ask for directions. She wishes she never left Natsu.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Some of this story is super cringe, but bear with me you guys.


	4. Prince

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I feel bad that past-me made these chapters hella short, so I'm posting them in bulk lolol

"Hey baby, wanna come back to my place?" A sudden voice emerges from an alley. 

"Goddamn alleyways, it's where all the cliches happen," the girl mumbles to herself.

"Are you lost? We've never seen you around here before," he smirks, more guys protruding from behind the indigo-haired male. Usually, Lucy could take the guy one-on-one. She was trained in the arts since she was younger and only stopped this last year, when she became independent. Confidence writhed through her veins of brutally beating the guy; but completely submerged upon seeing his many friends. There were too many to handle. 

"Maybe you could entertain us for a little while, hm? I got a little bored with the usual ones," a grimace painting his face. 

"Look, sir--" 

"Sir? No need to be so formal," he takes a few steps closer to Lucy. 

"Look, sir," she continues, "you seem much more intellectual than the other men around here so I'm sure you know what you're doing is wrong," Lucy leers. 

"Yeah, but, it's not like anything will happen." _Step. Step. Step._ It was true, nothing would happen. Lucy would get kidnapped by this weird pervert. She no longer had the power of a S.W.A.T team at her fingertips. Oh, how she greatly missed Aquarius in this moment. _Step. Step_ . _Step._

"Let's strike a deal!" She shouts before even devising a plan. 

He stops walking at the proposition, curious as to what she had in mind, "and what's that?"

"Alright, give me fifteen seconds," she nods, as if agreeing with herself. 

"Fifteen seconds for what?" Her heels began flying over the group of men's' heads. They followed, puzzled at why she did that. Looking back, all they saw was the sprinting back of a blonde, zipping through the darkness. "Get her!" The creeper yells. 

"Yes, Bora!" His men shout in unison.

They had been playing 'chase' for about fifteen minutes now and Lucy had been walking all day, a fifteen minute run was exhausting. She turns a corner and slows down after turning around to notice that her chasers weren't there. Sighing in relief, she slowly stepped to the side and slid down, behind a dumpster. It was no doubt, absolutely revoltingly vile. Taking in deep breaths at a time, the saddened girl snuggled up against her knees. 

"I hate you, Natsu Dragneel," she mutters to herself. "I wonder if I should call Aquarius, she'll be furious."

***

_Five minutes later._

"Found you," a gentle, worrisome voice cradles around the blonde's senses. She looks up to see the one she cursed the most. In any normal situation, she would've used one of her signature 'Lucy Kicks' on him, but this time was different. She was scared, and he saved her; even if he was the one liable one in this situation to begin with.

"Natsu," she whimpers cradling against his chest. He takes off his scarf to wrap around her neck as he helps her up. Footsteps are heard getting closer, this is a dead end though. _Now what?_ Lucy thought, _no way Natsu could beat all of them._

"Blondie, we found you!" One of Bora's henchmen cackle getting closer to the duo. "I see your feet, you can talk now," he adds. Natsu stands up.

"We're you guys the one playing with my toy?" He asks, calmly, voice laced with venom. 

"You guys!" The man cries for help as he backs out of the alley to get away from the demonic soul in front of him. Lucy followed suit, hiding behind Natsu. As the man emerged from the pitch black darkness, the moonlight luminaries over their figures. The group of guys ran over to the frightened man. Bora standing in front. Natsu slowly walked forward and his pink hair intertwined with the blue moonlight. To Lucy's confusion, Bora kneeled down to him and the other followed. 

Natsu laughed half-heartedly, wrenching Bora's throat, he pulled him up, "I never thought it'd be you guys to play with my things." 

"We are greatly sorry, Natsu. I promise to you we didn't know she was yours," Bora bleats. 

"You'll be punished later," he drops the beryl-haired man to his knees. 

"Yes, Prince Dragneel," he forms another bowing pose, forehead touching the disgusting floor. 

"Let's go Luce," Natsu spits, grading her hand; she obediently complied with his demands. 

***

"Natsu?" She meows softly, not wanting push him into a further state of anger. 

"Just shut up for a sec," he pulls harder on her arm, probably leaving a bruise for later.

Two minutes pass and the blonde repeats, "Natsu?" 

Entirely frustrated, he turns around to yell, "What?!"

"Sorry, um, but, uh, where exactly are we going?" She smiles softly. They've walking somewhere and yeah they got out of the slums but now they were headed to Mavis-knows-where. It was a pretty empty area, they were definitely outside of the city. 

"My house," he rolls his eyes to keep walking with the girl.

"Why didn't we take the train?" She questions. 

"It was closer without it," she can tell he's lying but decided not to point it out. They were two miles away from his house and Lucy had a great surplus of questions.

"Natsu?" She asks again, Natsu finally calmed down and let her wrist go. There in fact, has a bruise on it. She didn't mind, she knew he was worried. He was walking a little faster and she realized that there was a huge old fashioned castle in distance.

"Yeah?" He nods his to the girl. 

"Why did he call you _Prince Dragneel_ ?" Her curiosity furthered and she realized that castle was his. 

"My brother is a King," he simply states. 

"King of what exactly?" She speeds her pace to catch up with the boy's long strides. 

Natsu was obviously hesitant to tell her, even more uncomfortable and anxious but, "King of the Spriggan 12, Tartarus, and the Underworld," her replies. The blonde's jaw dropped. That organization is horrible though. They've killed countless people in the past. Why the hell-- How the hell was _Natsu_ apart of it. Slowly, Lucy backed away from the salmon-haired male. He grabbed her hand once more though. "Luce, I'm sorry I got you thrown into this," he whispered, her body shaking. Was he going to kill her? Was he going to sell her? There were so many rumors about this organization and she was with the _prince?_ "I promise I won't hurt you though," they were closely approaching the castle. In fact, they were probably a few meters away. You could see the glowing entrance. Honestly, it was invitingly horrifying. He turns to the frightened girl and lays his forehead against hers. "I'll explain later, but for now, let's get shelter, okay?" His gentle voice was so serene and reassuring. He adjusted his scaly-scarf around her neck as she cuddled further into it.


	5. Chapter 5

When they walked into the house, Lucy confirmed for sure that Natsu was indeed a prince. In fact, she was treated like a princess because of this. It was somewhat like she was at home; but with less welcoming people. 

Lucy had just taken a bath and was wearing a large ruffle dress, also like back home. She wandered around the place carefully, while looking for Natsu.

"Mistress Lucy, Prince Natsu is in the dining hall," a white haired male with glasses informs her sharply.

"Um, thank you, Invel," she recalls the name of the cold-looking person. 

***

"Natsu?" Lucy asks into the empty dining room. 

"He's getting ready for bed," a familiar voice chimes in the room instead. Lucy turns towards the alluring tone. 

"Zeref, er, shall I say,  _ King _ Zeref," she corrects.

"I see he told you," the domesticated man locks eyes with earthy hazel ones. "But please look at me like you did before you knew."

"Zeref, you have my word that my mouth is sealed. I thank you for your cordial courtesy of letting me clean myself up here; however, if I may take advantage of your kindness, please take me home," her formality displaying. 

"Lucy, please forgive me for not informing you of my stature, but as you promised to keep an eye on my younger brother, let me repay you, stay here until tomorrow, I'm sure Natsu would be worried as well," he replies. 

"Once again, I must decline, Zeref, in all honesty," she swallows hard, "I'm frightened to be here."

"That's what I had figured," he concurs, "however, do you trust Natsu?" Her eyes array confusion then harden as she affirms his question. "Did you hear that Natsu?" Zeref calls into the empty dining hall. "Stop eavesdropping and calm her nerves." Natsu treads out in a formal attire, though his scarf is still wrapped around it. Lucy notices his blush. 

"Shut up, Brother," he stops in front of Lucy, she looks absolutely gorgeous. Staring jaw-dropped for a few seconds, he looks away and back at his devious older brother. 

"Aw, my little brother definitely has a crush on you, Lucy, what will you do?" Zeref asks, smiling at the flame-brain. Lucy stares in awe seeing Zeref smile for the first time with happiness. She grins softly at their little interaction, completely forgetting that these people are great enemies with Master Mavis herself. In fact Zeref and Mavis are known as the dark and light of Fiore. It was a sad day when Mavis passed away; but that's when Fairytail took over as the  _ light  _ of Fiore. 

She looks over to the Crimson-faced boy and smirks, "I don't know Zeref," her formality drops, "apparently I'm his  _ toy. _ What do  _ you  _ think I should do?" 

"Natsu Dragneel are you treating her with respect?" Zeref's tone smug at his little bro. 

"Luce, come on," he sweeps her off her feet in the bridal way and Zeref smiles at the two as she yells at him to put her down. 

***

"Natsu, why do you like me," the blonde asks, sitting on a king-sized bed, waiting for him to come out of his closet. 

"Change into this then go to bed," he throws a big sweater at the girl's head, slyly evading the question. She pulls it off to look at it. A large black sweater with 'Dragneel' printed in the back in white. It's surprisingly soft and it smells like him. She listens and walks into the bathroom, stripping off the unnecessary dress. Tugging the sweater over her head, she looks into the mirror, classifying it as the 'boyfriend sweater.' 

She walks out timidly, as it consumes her whole body, stretching down to a little above her knees, though still managing to display most of her curvaceous figure. Natsu is sitting on his bed in sweats and his scarf, patiently waiting for the girl. As he notices her in his sweater, he instantly gives up. How you ask? Almost immediately as she scooted over to him he pinned her down against his bed. She barely even said his name and his hands were locked over wrists, binding her body between his legs, hand above her head. 

"What're you doing," she questions calmly. 

"You're not this cute in school, why are you only being cute now, in my house, where I literally have you all to myself," he sneers at the beauty. 

"Look, I'm not trying to okay. I'm used to this lifestyle but not with someone the same age as me," she murmurs. 

"What do you mean?" his grimace toughens. 

"Heartfilia Estate? You've probably heard of it right? That's my father's business," she rolls her eyes at the thought of it. The pink-haired idiot finally puts the pieces together and 'ohhs' at the comment. "So please get off, or I'll have a car come fetch me." 

"You're bluffing," his leer becomes a smirk, "you're trying to avoid contact with them, that's why you moved out." Maybe he's not such an idiot after all. 

"Okay, whatever, you caught me, just get off, this is uncomfortable," she cocks her head to the side, averting eye contact. 

"Under one condition," he dips his head down, close to her ear. She looks back at him as if to ask what it was. "You have to sleep with me tonight." 

"What? Hell no! I've known you for, what, a month now? Why would you even think I have remote trust for you?" She snaps. 

"This'll prove it. This'll prove how trustworthy I am. It'll prove how loyal I'll be to you," his smile softens and become entirely sweet. He beams a grin that no one could ever refuse and Lucy fell for it. His smile was just too pure and captivating. Yes, it was a mistake. Yes, she could greatly regret it. But, in the flow of the moment; accepting it seemed like the only thing to do. 

"Fine..." 

Opposite sides of the bed.  _ Completely _ opposite sides. Both are on the very edge of the king-sized bed with an enormous pillow barrier separating them. 

"Luce is this really necessary? Can't we just cuddle or something?" Pyro whines. 

"Touch me and I'm leaving," she responds, seriously. 

"Weirdo... Any other girl would say yes," he mutters. 

"I'm a second away from kicking you onto the floor," she flares. 

Minutes pass and the blonde can't fall asleep. "Natsu, are you still awake?" Her voice soft. 

"Yeah," he replies. 

Straightforwardly she asks, "Why'd you decide to join Fairy tail when you live on the enemy's side?" 

"Truthfully, it's because I realized the wrong in our doing. Zeref thinks it's because I wanted to be independent, but in actuality, I wanna atone for my sins. And what's any better way than to join the most pure place in Fiore?" He answers. 

"Natsu?" 

"Hm?" 

"I don't wanna be too nosy but, why does Zeref even do those things?" 

"I'm not sure why he started. I don't think anyone does. Although, I  _ do  _ know that he wants to stop. A while back, he met someone, and she changed his outlook on everything. Sadly, she passed away," Natsu's voice breaks a bit. 

"He wants to change but he's so far into it that, he can't stop anymore... That's so sad," Lucy murmurs, voice cracking. 

"Do you wanna know a secret?" Natsu asks. 

"Yeah!" Lucy shout-whispers. 

"The girl who passed... Was Mavis Vermillion," Natsu's voice just below a whisper.

"Seriously?!" Lucy peeks over the pillow-barrier to try and see if Natsu was lying. Luckily, moonlight filtered through the balcony curtains and it dimly lit his face. She confirmed his honesty, lying back down. "I'm sorry, Zeref," her voice breaks once more as she now knows why he smiled that one time when she talked about Mavis. 

***

"Are you still awake?" Yet another whisper is heard from the blonde about an hour or two after their previous conversation. No response. "Natsu?" She tries again and is awarded with silence. Fifteen minutes later she begins to hear a snore coming from the boy. Sighing heavily, and with a slight smile, the girl glances at the light green emitting from his bedside table. 3:02. She should be sleepy. She had a rough day, but for some oddity, she didn't want to. Maybe her subconscious felt unsafe around Natsu? No, it was the exact opposite. Natsu was the  _ only  _ person she felt safe around in this place, excluding Zeref of course. Carefully, Lucy dismembered the bed of the pillow-dividend and slowly scooted over to the drooling Prince. Giggling at the features moonlight decorated she poked his cheek, which was a  _ major  _ mistake. 

An arm reigned down on the girl's body and the pyro basically used her as a pillow. But not just any pillow because he was being quite gentle with her. If she didn't hear how even his breathing was, she probably would've guessed that he, in fact, was awake. If he was awake, she also would've blushed like crazy and kicked him off. But he was sleeping which made it all the better. Instead, she snuggled up into his chest as he stuffed his head against her neck and golden locks. 

"Luce," he snores. The girl did end up with cherry-stained cheeks. 


	6. Breakfast

"You were totally trying to do something in my sleep," the salmon-haired male whispers across the body under his arm. Her eyes flutter open like a cute little kitten waking up for the first time. 

"Good morning, Loke. I've told you not to get into my bed in the morning?" She stretches sitting upright. 

"Who's Loke?" Natsu questions, tilting his head towards the blonde. 

The different voice echoes through her head as she comes to her senses. She turns her head slowly, to come face to face with none other than the Prince of demons himself. Screaming, she habitually kicks the boy off the bed. A loud thump is heard throughout the room. A head pops up from the floor, glaring at the girl. 

"Sorry, Natsu, I forgot I was here," she mumbles, embarrassed. 

"Yeah, I know. You were thinking about 'Loke'," jealousy completely obvious on his face. 

"Well, I'm not used to waking up to people other than the ones I used to live with," she mumbles. 

"Is he your boyfriend," Natsu stares, crawling closer to her on the bed.

"No," she backs away. 

"Family?" He asks, getting closer and closer. 

"Yes and no?" She responds. 

"What's that supposed to mean?" Natsu's eyes narrow at the girl. 

"Well, he's like my family but, we aren't blood related and he flirts a lot," she thinks back on the behaviors of her close friend, "but I know he doesn't mean it."

"You're mine," he whimpers like a child. 

"Natsu," she blushes, "I've known you for a little over a month... Doesn't that tell you something?" 

"It tells me that it's been over a month and you still don't like me. Luce, have you realized that you're the  _ only _ person who doesn't like me?" He raises a brow, questioningly. 

"Yep," she confirms, "and my reasons are perfectly valid." 

"And what might those be?" His voice entirely curious. 

"A.N.N.O.Y.I.N.G." She spells. 

"Humph," he stands up and makes his way out of the room. 

"He's such a child," Lucy smiles warm and tender at her hands. 

Lucy gathers her belonging from the previous night and one of the servers hands her a backpack for everything. She slowly descends a grand spiral staircase into the dining hall, only to find two sophisticated brothers struggling to make a batch of pancakes.

“I’ve never seen someone mix batter so horridly…” Her eyes widen at the sticky substance painting the floors and counter tops. To top it all off, the one pancake that _actually_ made it into the pan was burning, smoke filling the room She was surprised the fire detector hasn't gone off.

“I wanted to make breakfast for you. Zeref said he'd help me…” Natsu murmurs, as the pancake catches fire, Zeref spraying as much sink water onto it as possible. All the blonde could do in response was a large facepalm. 

“How about I make breakfast,” she suggests, pushing the two out of the kitchen.

Lucy prevailed in making the fluffiest of fluffy pancakes; though the kitchen still looked like a massacre. Despite the mess, the three carried on to have breakfast together, as Zeref’s henchmen began cleaning the place.

“These are great Luce!” Natsu exclaims, stuffing his cheeks with the pancakes soaked in syrup.

“Thanks…” She smiles softly, seeing an entirely new side of Natsu. Sort of like she's babysitting.

***

After breakfast, Zeref instructs his younger brother to escort the sweet girl home, for she has suffered enough in that dark palace of his. Natsu agreed and they were on their way back to the apartments.

“Did you have fun?” Natsu whispers as we arrive to the small complex.

“Yeah Natsu, getting kidnapped by the Prince of the Underworld was _fantastic_ ,” she glares. The blonde scrapes at the bottom of her bag for her apartment key. She shoves the key in, fumbling it. 

“You haven't said thank you or sorry,” he stares, eyebrow raised and tongue poking the inside of his cheek.

“Thank you, for saving me Natsu, I truly am grateful…” she smiles, wholly genuine. “But what exactly should _I_ be sorry for?” She questions somewhat annoyed

“The whole ‘Good Morning Loke’,” the pyro spits the unknown boy’s name.

The girl rolls her eyes, a little flattered, “Natsu, does it really matter? It's not like we have a thing going anyway,” she jokes.   
The boy bites the inside of his cheek and pouts like a child, he plops himself down on her couch and stares up at her with evil eyes. The girl chuckles and strides towards the boy, ruffling his pink lofts with her silky hands. His grimace quickly became a smile as he snatched her hand and tugged the girl’s body on top of him. The plan was executed flawlessly, as she fell into his chest across the brown couch. Her face completely flushed, she scrambles to get back onto her feet. As she regains balance, the girl throws the pink-headed dimwit across the room, efficiently locking the door as she hears a loud thud in the hallway. Slowly, but surely, Lucy slams her back onto the door and slides down, completely red, to the tips of her ears.  around, impatiently until the door swings open. She steps into the small room and smiles. _Home sweet home._ Natsu slithers through the door before she could entirely slam it. “What?” She turns, gloomily.


	7. Chapter 7

“Hey Lucy!” The mini bluenette wraps her hands around the blonde’s robust waist. 

“Hi, Levy,” she replies, closing her locker. Turning her head, Levy pounces back, scared of what she faces. Dark, deep circles, a pale face and big round glasses, a red, runny nose, and chapped, white lips.

“Sweetie, you look… Ghastly,” the bluenette stands up, scared for her soulless looking friend. “I'll take you to the nurse.” 

Lucy flashes her a small smile of gratitude as she lets her arm be whisked away by the tiny girl. As she gets dragged through the halls into the nurse’s office, Gajeel walks over to help his tiny girlfriend. 

*** 

Her eyes flutter open and her energy has returned, substantially. The blonde sits upright as she realizes where she is. She scopes the nurse’s office for anyone sitting around, no one. She lies back down in relief,  _ thank goodness, now I can pretend to be sick a little longer.  _ She lets her eyes fall, content with the peaceful room, especially the breeze from the slightly cracked open window. A few minutes later, footsteps begin to approach her. She pretends to still be sleeping, not wanting to be sent back to her last two classes.

A large, warm hand brushes hair out of her eyes. She wants to open them, just to have a little glimpse of who's there. Their hand lies gently on her face and she slyly snuggles into it. A soft, low chuckle is heard before the hand is pulled away, the footsteps retreating to outside of the room. The blonde actually does fall back asleep, longing for the missing warmth by her face. 

She wakes up to the sound of the end of the school day bell ringing. Lucy bolts upright only to see Porlyusica prescribing her medication and writing her an excuse note for the day. She swings her legs to the side of the bed to slip her shoes on. Glancing towards a table she notices a glass of water and a bouquet of roses. She takes the card with  _ Lucy  _ written on the front.  _ “Darling, please enjoy, these beautiful flowers of love, though they could never match your perfection.” - D.  _ Who the hell is D? She ponders for a few minutes as Porlyusica hands her an Advil. 

“Mrs. P, may I ask where these roses came from?” The blonde questions, a little enthralled but mostly irritated that they signed a single letter. 

“Actually, those were delivered by someone at the office, I heard he was a student from another school, brown hair, loud, tall, purple eyes,” she describes, hoping something will be recognizable. After a few minutes, it clicks… Dan. Lucy rolls her eyes, thinking about the younger boy who's been trying to pursue her for a little over three years now. She felt bad for him, but no way was she going to return his feelings. 

Lucy picks up the bouquet about to leave, “thank you for everything today,” she bows towards her elder. 

“Before you leave Miss Heartfilia, a boy from your class told me to tell you  _ under your water _ ,” she mentions with a small smirk. 

Lucy quirks a brow before turning on her heel, back to the bed. She notices a thin piece of paper sticking out from under the glass. She pulls it out, reading  _ “Stay hydrated, Weirdo.”  _ There was no name but she knew exactly who it was from. Folding up the small piece of paper, the blonde tucks it between her English book. She chugs the water and leaves the nurse’s office with a sweet smile. 

***

After gathering the work she missed for the day, Lucy fell across her bed in pure exhaustion, despite the fact that she slept all day. She stares at the ceiling, blankly. Raising one arm and closing one eye, she stares at her hand and grasps the air, turning it in all different angles to watch it change shades as the sun sets. She remembers the warm hand that caressed her cheek earlier that day and the soft laugh that sounded like an angel’s whisper. She remembers her hair being pushed away from her eyes and how gentle the touch was. 

_ Knock. Knock. Knock. Knock. Knock. Kno-- _

“Luce?” Natsu questions sleepily, seemingly just waking up from a nap, shirtless, he gestures for her to come in. 

Her eyes widen at the awkward sight and before she could walk away his hand tugged her wrist and she was drifted onto a bean bag chair of the pinkette. He closes the door and locks it. 

“P-put on a shirt!” She stutters, trying to compose herself and avoid any eye contact, whatsoever. 

“Ooh, am I making you a flustered?” He laughs, stepping closer and closer to the girl. She curls up against the closet, covering her eyes with her hands. He reaches over the girl to grab a sweater hanging behind her, pulling back he whispers, “pervert,” this definitely made her jump. He cackles as he slips on his sweater and walks back to his bed. Hopping on the side he strikes up the conversation, “so what brings you to mi casa?” 

“Umm, I honestly don't know myself,” she laughs, half-heartedly. 

“Awww, so you just missed me?” He smirks while hugging his pillows, locking eyes with the girl in front.  

“Thank you for the glass of water, I guess?” She changes the subject. 

“I'm glad you noticed,” he throws her one of his signature smiles. 

A pounding deep in her chest almost breaks her. Almost like a heart attack. Nervousness overcomes her senses and she absolutely a hated this feeling inside. “I think I'm gonna go,” she smiles, extremely anxious to leave the suffocating area. 

“Wait, why?” Natsu furrows his eyebrows down and this motion makes her hesitate to leave? She doesn't feel pity for him. Nor does she want to stay. One thing for sure is: she feels the need to make him happy and if that meant staying, then by all means was she staying. 

She inhales deeply, hoping to God that the horrifying feeling inside will stop. “You stress me out.” 

His kind grin suddenly turned into a beam, craving for lust in the split second after her comment. Lucy’s eyes widen as every step he takes towards her, increases the queasiness she feels in her chest. Natsu dips down, close to her neck. “Have you fallen for me?” He whispers, seductively, placing a quick kiss above her collarbone. 

Oh, she's definitely had it. No way in hell was she going to be  _ toyed  _ with so easily. Feeling degraded, the blonde stands up. Frustrated as hell she speaks, “I can't believe I actually thought that you were sweet or even remotely nice!” She marches out of his room, slamming the door behind her. 


	8. Chapter 8

For the past couple of weeks Natsu has been following the blonde around to every class and walked her home, all without the incessant bullying from before. During this period he would carry her bags/books, he’d ask if he could help in anyway possible, but most of all he'd try to strike up a conversation. Any kind of conversation even derived from the smallest detail, such as the color of his laces. He'd talk about  _ anything  _ just to listen to Lucy’s melodic voice. The only replies he ever got were basic yes’s no’s and thank you’s. Yes, he was able to listen to her talk, whenever she was prompted to during class, or a normal chat with friends. Though she'd never talk with Natsu. He always initiated a one-sided conversation with the stone-cold girl. Everyone in the school was aware of Natsu’s feelings for the girl but they also knew how much she disliked him. If she still had even a twinge of love towards the pinkette, boy was this a whole new level of “playing hard to get.” 

***

On a chilly, rainy Friday, Lucy exited the classroom with a gloomy face. 

“Hey, Luce, what’s wrong?” Natsu questions while opening an umbrella for the two to share. She stares at the boy with longing, droopy eyes before turning away and beginning to walk. Natsu trails right behind her as she struts rather quickly to their apartments. His footsteps are a beat behind, making sure she had not even a single drop of water touch her sweater. On the other hand, half of his back was soaking at due to the small umbrella size. 

They arrive to their apartments and Lucy heads straight towards her’s, swiftly unlocking the door, and slamming it. All before Natsu could get out a quick “Bye!”

Sighing heavily, the boy shakes his wet, mangled locks of hair. He slips off his muddled shoes and leaves the umbrella in the hall to air dry by the side of his door. Sighing once more, the hopeless boy steps into his dark room and heads straight for the shower. 

Hurriedly, he throws on a sweater before drying himself, shivering like a skeleton. He begins to cough and sneeze like crazy. Weakly, Natsu treads over to his kitchen for a glass of water. He downs it in one gulp along with an Tylenol, before throwing on another sweater. 

_ Knock. Knock.  _

Debilitated, he stumbles toward the door. After opening, he uses the door as support. Looking up he notices a worried familiar blonde. 

“Luce?! Do you need something?” He musters up all his energy to ask. 

Taking a deep breath she whispers to herself, “I knew it.” 

Natsu lifts a brow but is suddenly pushed towards his bed by the worrisome blonde. He doesn't stop her as she unbuttons one of his jackets and closes the door. She strides into the bathroom with a bucket of water, and two towels. After tucking the sickly boy in, she begins to dry his damp hair; running her fingers through his tangled tufts of salmon. Later she wets the other towel and lies it on Natsu’s forehead, as a perfect rectangle. Finally, she brings over a glass of water and instruct him to drink, he needs to stay hydrated. 

He smiles up at the girl, overjoyed, “thank you.” 

“Shut up,” she moves the towel down just enough to cover his eyes. The boy’s dragon-like sense are able to find her hand and intertwine his fingers between them. She doesn't pull away, which felt like the biggest accomplishment all month. Lucy giggles slightly because even though Natsu is ill, he’s still hotter than her. 

***

He wakes up enveloped with some kind of warmth across his body. Slowly, his eyes open, gradually getting wider and wider as he comprehends the scene before him. The girl that he's completely head over heels for, has fallen asleep on his chest, holding his hand, rather tightly may he add. His face suddenly becomes hot, their noses are almost touching. This is probably the most feverish he’s ever been. After a few minutes of staring at the girl’s pure, sleeping face, he smiles to himself. She’s been so rude to him this past month but then she does something like this? She's got him all types of confused. Although, he could care less, he would forgive her rude behavior just like she forgave him in the beginning of whatever this relationship was. 

Ten minutes pass and Natsu isn't tired at all of just observing the blonde. He loves the feeling of her chest rising and falling. He chuckles slightly but quickly hushed himself as the blonde’s eyes open. 

“I wasn't sleeping Natsu, I was waiting for you to say something,” she stares up at him, even cuter than before. 

His heart almost stops at the sight of her beautiful hazel eyes up close, “h-how long have you been awake?” He stutters. 

“Long enough,” she smirks, letting go of his hand. You can clearly see his pout when her warmth leaves his body. She bolts to stand up and retrieves a bowl of soup for Natsu. 

He takes the bowl, overwhelmed with happiness and scarfs the substance down. “Ahhh, I haven't had chicken soup in years,” she laughs at his content sigh. “Thank you for taking care of me, Luce.”

“Natsu, I'd like to apologize to you…” she murmurs, gloomily. 

“For what?” He cocks his head to the side, unknowingly. 

“For pushing you away this past month. I wanted to test your loyalty and--” she hesitates to speak, “I got carried away.” 

He stares up at her with understanding eyes yet she still looks forlorn. 

“Could you ever forgive me? I know that's asking for a lot,” she bows her head. 

Suddenly, a warm hand caresses the side of her face, lifting it up so they could lock eyes. She remembers this warmth, it's the same hand that cared for her in the nurse’s office. The same hand she didn't want to let go. 

“Only if you forgive me for being a complete jerk to you, especially when we first met,” he swallows hard, as if his past action physically hurt. 

She stares deeply into his opal colored eyes, trying to find some kind of hidden lie. After finding none, she shyly nods, which definitely made Natsu grin, ear to ear. 

The two laugh together until out of nowhere, the blonde mounts the salmon-head. His eye almost popped out of his head after seeing Lucy’s bedroom eyes. She places her forehead against his as he becomes a deeper shade than red, if that's even possible. 

“Wh-wha-whatcha doin’ there Luce?” He tries to compose himself from looking side to side. 

“Nothing much,” her lips almost brush against his, he feels her hot breath intermingling with his heavy breathing. “I told you I hated it when you did this to me, so I was wondering what you’d feel if the roles reversed,” she simpers. 

Entirely unethical, the boy smirks back, “and what would you say if I liked it?” He treads towards her. Lucy suddenly loses her cool and falls back. Natsu, slowly crawling on top of her. Her eyes widen and she takes a deep breath. He leans down and places a chaste kiss on her cheek. 

“I mean, I wouldn't stop you anymore…” she mumbles, 100 different shades of pink. 

On instinct, the boy locks her wrists above her head, much like the time in the castle. “You should always try to stop me Lucy, because I won't be able to stop myself…” 

His eyes are devoured by lust. Almost like he's drooling, he leans forward to kiss the girl and she ends up not stopping him. 

After what seemed like the longest, steamy kiss in the world, the duo pulled back for a breath. The boy ready for more, slightly opens his mouth for more access and stops at the girl’s voice. 

“Natsu, I think I should go…” she mutters, worried of what would happen if she hadn't stopped him. Her eyes show surrender and this engulfs the boy in sadness as he quickly scrambles off of her. 

His lustful eyes no longer showing, “I’m really sorry, Luce.” 

“No, it's okay, you even warned me, but I guess I wanted to kiss you equally as much,” she giggles. Standing up from the bed she scolds the boy on what to do to prevent his fever from coming back. He escorts her to the door, turning on her heel, she kisses him sweetly on the cheek, “Bye, Natsu, I’ll see you tomorrow.” 

Right as she stepped into the hallway the boy grabbed her wrist and closed the door to barricade her from leaving. “I have a question, before you go.” She turns to face him as his arms trap her against the door. 

“Will you be my girlfriend?” He asks, nervous as hell. 

She squints her eyes at him as if to ask why he's so nervous. 

“It's just that, I’m scared another guy will ask you out… Look at you, you're so goddamn beautiful,” he sounds utterly defeated. 

“You have nothing to worry about, Natsu,” she bumps her forehead onto his, lovingly. 

“So is that a yes?” He sounds like a giddy child. 

She pulls back and looks him straight in the eyes, “no,” she flashes a quick smile before dipping out of his arms and leaving. 

***

The next day, Natsu followed Lucy around school asking her to go out with him, not caring one bit if anyone heard. The entire school felt pity for the boy. Not only was he rejected, but each time was an even scarier “No.” 

As they got back to their apartments, the boy slipped through the blonde’s door and dreaded in his own self-pity. Lying across her pink comforter and he quickly sits up as she goes for something to drink. 

“Lucy will you---” he get cuts off. 

“No, Natsu. I WILL NOT!” She breaks, “Enough with your incessant whining, it's bothersome.” She turns her head away, gulping down a glass of lemonade. 

He pouts even heavier and the girl, “will you tell me why?” 

“I’m not allowed to date,” her cheeks flush, embarrassed. 

The boy bursts out into laughter and he can't seem to stop. “Wait, no but seriously,” he tears up. 

“Natsu I'm not kidding,” she puffs her cheeks out. 

“What?!” He yells, in shock, “but almost down with high school , 18 years old? You’re an adult already!” He reasons with her. 

“If I date someone, then I’ll have to end the relationship and get an arranged marriage. You see, my father thinks that if I'm old enough to date, I’m old enough to marry. Moreover, it definitely won't be to the boy I actually like. It’ll probably be some high-class snob,” she rolls her eyes. 

“Well, how would they know you're dating someone if you moved out of their and cut ties?” He asks. 

“Once a month, on a random day, someone comes by to check on me. I may be independent but that doesn't mean my father would just stop caring about what I'm doing,” she explains, tiredly. 

“Can’t we date in secret? You're mine, Luce,” he sobs. “Isn't that what we’re already doing?” 

He makes a good point, the blonde strides over to him, “promise me that this will work,” he takes her pinky and nods, excitedly. 

***

Nothing has really changed in their relationship after finally putting a title on it. Except for the fact that Natsu becomes a happy child in school when they're together and gives a death stare to any boy that comes her way. 

Everything seemed completely fine, most people were glad that he wasn't being shunned anymore. Other girls were very displeased with the fact that he was now taken. He was the most kind, lovely boy in school, and Lucy stole him. 


End file.
